The Ministry of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands has set the end of the legislature, in 2011, as the horizon for primary and secondary education centers to teach a quarter of their subjects in English. The General Director of Educational Planning and Innovation, Victoria González, announced this objective this morning during the presentation of a package of measures to promote foreign languages for the coming year.
In this way, the Ministry will soon publish an Order "that will allow schools to join the bilingual education modality", according to the General Director. These teachings have been piloted for three years in 4,512 students from 60 centers in the Canary Islands, which are currently in the evaluation phase this academic year, although according to the director, "the results are positive".
In principle, the teachings will be in English, "as it is the most widespread language and the 'lingua franca' of the world", said González, "although subjects can also be taught in French if it is the language of reference of the center", she concluded.
In order to carry out this adaptation, the Ministry is in the process of developing specific material for the coming year. For example, material for subjects such as natural sciences or mathematics in English. However, one of the biggest challenges to achieve the bilingual horizon in the Archipelago is the adaptation of teachers.
"We are aware that our teachers need specific training", said Victoria González. The training plan involves training teachers abroad. For this reason, a total of 190 places have been announced for teachers who are going to participate in this call for bilingual centers.
Even so, the Ministry has planned a final option for those schools that want to join the project. "We are aware that we do not yet have the necessary number of teachers", she acknowledged, "but even if a school does not have specialist teachers, it can join the project", she concluded.
To this end, Education plans to prepare, in collaboration with the General Directorate of Personnel, a call for service commissions so that if a center presents a bilingual project after approval by the faculty, it can have one of these teachers. "We believe that launching this project will lead people to train and will be the trigger that encourages other centers to participate", she said to finish.
ACN Press